Marr’velous
February 16th, 2007And to think we thought the Arcade Fire album was an outstanding follow up…
…has leaked out.
Hands-down the winner of the two in my opinion (and I have yet to even make it through all the songs.)
Wolf Parade - I’ll Believe in Anything
February 14th, 2007My summer song of 2006 - and now, its music video. I do love a good duel.
Jon’s next door neighbours on R3
February 12th, 2007So, my neighbours (most of the Barmitzvah Brothers) have made it on to Radio 3 with a studio session. I was aware they did the session in the spring, and have been waiting for it to be posted for a while. I can’t say it’s “my music” but it’s cool to know there are demi-celebs within close vicinity to me.
it’s finally accessible, and it’s really incredible…
February 11th, 2007The interweb has finally given us a genuine copy, and oh my is it incredible… keep posted for a review…
The Police to Reunite!
January 30th, 2007…. for the Grammy’s.
I’m (not) from Rolling Stone
January 28th, 2007While recently flipping through the cable on tv in my cold apartment I stopped on a station that I had long ago vowed never to watch. Yes, I’m talking about MTV Canada, the home to such amazing things as A WHOLE WEEK OF FALLOUT BOY and its super-star VJ Daryn Jones. Now I don’t normally count myself in as a watcher of Laguna Beach, or the Hills, as many in my generation - god help us - I was lucky enough to see the brief title of the show before going from channel 52 to 53 in less than 2 seconds flat. Enough so, that I actually flipped back to see what this I’m With Rolling Stone was all about.
The premise of the show revolves around five or so interns/contestants trying to make their way at the once great pinnacle of music journalism, Rolling Stone magazine. If anything the show debunks the whole ideal of what being a music journalist is perceived to be, by showing the RS headquarters not in some dark-dingy 1970s west-coast warehouse that Almost Famous would have us believe, but in a New York City office building, cubicles and all, as well as one too many people who seem to hold the title “Editor.” These up-and-coming music journalists that MTV/RS have chosen aren’t what one would call the average dedicated, over-worked, under-paid, fresh-out-of-school young journalists. The chosen group seem to be picked based more on how they would operate on the whole in a group-setting, rather than their actual journalistic/literate ability, which isn’t much of a surprise really. Gotta keep it interesting for the kids, right?
Like many of the shows on MTV, and TV in general these days, it is more character driven than plot driven, but, this show actually offers something to the audience that the producers could probably care less about. The show offers a considerable amount of insight into how a major-magazine operates, ruining the idealistic-stereotype of what we’d, or at least I’d, like to think being a music journalist is all about. Instead of hanging out backstage at the Stillwater concert with Pennylane and taking notes on my five-inch by three-inch spiral-bound notebook, it shows the deadline driven world of journalism, where having the article in the editors hand at 2 o’clock means having it in his or her hand at 2 o’clock, and not a second later. If you want to have your dreams of what the world of music journalism is like tarnished, than this is the show to watch. Catch it while you can, I doubt it will last as long as Love Monkey.
We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank hits the shelves March 20th.
01 March Into the Sea
02 Dashboard
03 Fire It Up
04 Florida
05 Parting of the Sensory
06 Missed the Boat
07 We’ve Got Everything
08 Fly Trapped in a Jar
09 Education
10 Little Motel
11 Steam Engenius
12 Spitting Venom
13 People As Places As People
14 Invisible
The Pumpkins (aka. just Jimmy and Billy) return to the stage by playing two German festivals in June. Rock am Ring on the 2nd and Rock im Park on the 3rd. Can’t say I’ll be attending….
Rock Plaza Central/The Constantines @ Ebar, January 18/07
January 22nd, 2007Guelph’s own return to the Royal City, for a one-nighter at the Ebar with pitchfork’s proclaimed new-music-darlings Rock Plaza Central. At $12/$10(w/ can of food) per person, this show was quite the steal, especially since it was done in support of CFRU, Guelph’s underachiever campus radio station. Although, buzz for this show remained pretty low on campus, once word got around in the musically inclined circles tickets sold out quickly. Forcing myself, and others, to have to get tickets from a store in Waterloo due to the incredible speed that they disappeared from the location in Guelph - forcing them to even have to put up a sign in the door stating “Cons tickets sold out at this location”! But, that can be expected whenever the Constantines come home. Although the Ebar isn’t the best location for the Cons, it seemed more suited to the more mellow RPC, it was able to hold up to the clap-your-hands, stomp-your-feet, sing-a-long ballads many a Guelphite has come to know and love.
RPC but on a pretty decent set, although unfortunately most of the crowd tuned them out as they waited for the main act. But, by the end of their set, playing more of their loud and upbeat songs like “My Children Be Joyful” the crowd came full circle and started to open up to RPC. Maybe even enough to perhaps garner a bit of a fanbase.
Nevertheless, when the Cons came on, the crowd got what they came for. Playing most, if not all, of their popular “perennial favourites” and a mix of a few new songs got the crowd to their feet during the set and the three-song encore. My favourite “Nighttime/Anytime (it’s alright)” remained so after hearing for the third or fourth time live. Look for the Cons on their upcoming mini-tour with the Tragically Hip, as they promote their new album World Container!
The Arcade Fire
After playing two “secret” shows, one at an Ottawa high school gymnasium and the other at a church in the heart of Montreal, their hometown, the Fire have given themselves a warm-up for their upcoming five show gig in London, England, followed by another five-show gig in Montreal. Their future album, Neon Bible, which was created in a converted church in the Eastern Townships will be on display for all to see at these shows. The question on everyones mind is “What is it like compared to Funeral for a Friend?” Although hard to gauge at the present, you have two ways for a sneak peak. The AF have released two singles off the album, the first, the radio-single, “Black Mirror” is a little darker than what we’ve heard in the past, but still just as catchy. The other single, an “iTunes exclusive” remains elusive from my ears at the moment. Things are looking good for the AF so far!
SLOAN
The always favourite Sloan return with their album “Never Hear the End of It.” Although it has been out in Canada for a while, it will just be released to the US as of tomorrow. Pitchfork gives it a 7.7 - which is surprisingly better than their rating for the Shins “Wincing he Night Away” (also released tomorrow, even though it has been online for ages) which only garnered a 7.0! Those sticklers at PFM seem to be unrelenting, but for our boys Sloan they proclaim them the newest to be a return to form after two rather lacking previous efforts.
New Years Gift
January 3rd, 2007Here it is, what all the MM fans have been waiting for…. the new single.
Although you will have to go to MySpace to hear it, I think it’s worth it. Even if you have a lifelong vow against it, I still think it’s worth it.
For King and Country…
November 16th, 2006It has been a spectacular couple of weeks in the British music scene. The Magic Numbers have released their sophomore album, Those The Brokes (which is awesome by the way), and Feeder has released a ‘greatest-hits-up-until-now’ aptly titled, The Singles. If there wasn’t enough good music out already, the new Damien Rice album, ‘9′, is out too… this is his follow up to his highly successful ‘O’. So if you are willing to chill out, check that out. However, the pinnacle point of all of this is that Oasis will be releasing Stop The Clocks on 21st November. This of course will prove to be one of the greatest releases of best-of’s in a long time, considering above all it contains new tracks, and the first non b-side release of Acquiesce… arguably one of the greatest b-sides of all time.
So go ahead, buy these CD’s, or download them from your preferred established download service. By the way, go and obtain the new Shins album, it’s great…
P.S. Notice the RSS feeds added to the site. Click them, and be continuously up to date on all of the posts made on Sounds Like White Noise… see ya
Indie Rock Collectives v. 2.0
November 16th, 2006Pitchfork is declaring the indie collective Rock Plaza Central to be the next big conglomerate to hit the music scene; hailing from where else, but Toronto. Giving their album, Are We Not Horses, 8.4 out of 10 - which for anyone who reads Pitchfork will be aware is a pretty outstanding review. Comparing one song to the long-up-and-coming indie rock darling Okkervil River’s Black Sheep Boy. Here’s an excerpt about the album itself from the review by Stephen Duesner,
“Toronto-based Rock Plaza Central’s Are We Not Horses? is after all a concept album, a song cycle about mechanical horses programmed to think they’re real horses, the implication being that their artificial minds and souls still act like real ones. And they’re caught in the middle of an epic war between good and evil. And their story is conveyed in Chris Eaton’s high-flying wail of a voice, an odd instrument that would be completely off-putting if it weren’t so touching in its derangement. All those elements just beg for a review that’s equally far-fetched and out-there, something weird and coolly obtuse.”
The free mp3 from PFM is definitely worth the listen -
Rock Plaza Central - My Children, Be Joyful
I’m going to be keeping my heads up for them in the future.
